Plagued with errors: A information outlet’s resolution to jot down tales with AI backfires | CNN Enterprise
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CNN
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Information outlet CNET mentioned Wednesday it has issued corrections on various articles, together with some that it described as “substantial,” after utilizing a man-made intelligence-powered device to assist write dozens of tales.
The outlet has since hit pause on utilizing the AI device to generate tales, CNET’s editor-in-chief Connie Guglielmo mentioned in an editorial on Wednesday.
The disclosure comes after Futurism reported earlier this month that CNET was quietly utilizing AI to jot down articles and later discovered errors in a kind of posts. Whereas utilizing AI to automate information tales just isn’t new – the Related Press started doing so practically a decade in the past – the difficulty has gained new consideration amid the rise of ChatGPT, a viral new AI chatbot device that may rapidly generate essays, tales and tune lyrics in response to person prompts.
Guglielmo mentioned CNET used an “internally designed AI engine,” not ChatGPT, to assist write 77 printed tales since November. She mentioned this amounted to about 1% of the entire content material printed on CNET throughout the identical interval, and was achieved as a part of a “take a look at” undertaking for the CNET Cash workforce “to assist editors create a set of fundamental explainers round monetary providers matters.”
Some headlines from tales written utilizing the AI device embody, “Does a Dwelling Fairness Mortgage Have an effect on Non-public Mortgage Insurance coverage?” and “How one can Shut A Financial institution Account.”
“Editors generated the outlines for the tales first, then expanded, added to and edited the AI drafts earlier than publishing,” Guglielmo wrote. “After one of many AI-assisted tales was cited, rightly, for factual errors, the CNET Cash editorial workforce did a full audit.”
The results of the audit, she mentioned, was that CNET recognized extra tales that required correction, “with a small quantity requiring substantial correction.” CNET additionally recognized a number of different tales with “minor points similar to incomplete firm names, transposed numbers, or language that our senior editors considered as obscure.”
One correction, which was added to the top of an article titled “What Is Compound Curiosity?” states that the story initially gave some wildly inaccurate private finance recommendation. “An earlier model of this text recommended a saver would earn $10,300 after a 12 months by depositing $10,000 right into a financial savings account that earns 3% curiosity compounding yearly. The article has been corrected to make clear that the saver would earn $300 on high of their $10,000 principal quantity,” the correction states.
One other correction suggests the AI device plagiarized. “We’ve changed phrases that weren’t totally unique,” in line with the correction added to an article on shut a checking account.
Guglielmo didn’t state how most of the 77 printed tales required corrections, nor did she break down what number of required “substantial” fixes versus extra “minor points.” Guglielmo mentioned the tales which have been corrected embody an editors’ be aware explaining what was modified.
CNET didn’t instantly reply to CNN’s request for remark.
Regardless of the problems, Guglielmo left the door open to resuming use of the AI device. “We’ve paused and can restart utilizing the AI device once we really feel assured the device and our editorial processes will stop each human and AI errors,” she mentioned.
Guglielmo additionally mentioned that CNET has extra clearly disclosed to readers which tales have been compiled utilizing the AI engine. The outlet took some warmth from critics on social media for not making overtly clear to its viewers that “By CNET Cash Employees” meant it was written utilizing AI instruments. The brand new byline is simply: “By CNET Cash.”
